


Cards in Moscow

by VampirePaladin



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica, ドキドキ！プリキュア | DokiDoki! PreCure, 幻影ヲ駆ケル太陽 il sole penetra le illusioni | Day Break Illusion
Genre: Alternate Universe - Day Break Illusion, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Crossover Pairings, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, During Canon, F/F, Minor Character Death, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 17:03:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1096386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Mami is supposed to be wearing <a href="http://imgur.com/0xExqK3">this</a> as her clothing.</p>
<p>When transformed I imagined Mami's hair like <a href="http://youtu.be/qm3rb1k7k78">Vivid Yellow's</a> from Vividred Operation, only with Mami's Madoka Magica hat and hair pin.  The ribbons are supposed to be the ones she uses in combat in the show.</p>
<p>Rikka's transformed state just has her Precure hairstyle and her golden bracelets.</p></blockquote>





	Cards in Moscow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cynicalpink](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cynicalpink/gifts).



_I want to live._

Mami opened her eyes. She was still in the backseat of her parent’s car. Her seatbelt had held her in place even though the car was on its side. Her head was resting on the cracked glass of the car door win. She could see the black pavement in greater detail than she ever wanted to.

Mami thought it would have hurt, she was so sure it was going to be horrible. She felt numb. Maybe she was wriggling her toes right now and maybe her feet had been cut off at the ankle, she couldn’t tell by feel. Yet, in the back of her head she knew that she was badly hurt. Whether it was premonition or just an intuitive understanding of what was happening to her body was unimportant. 

She turned her head to the left. It was a slow movement, partly because she was scared of a neck injury. There was the sky. If she could just reach out then she could touch it, grab onto life and hold onto it like a ribbon.

The sky morphed from blue to a kaleidoscope of reds. Her set of tarot guards, a gift from her late grandmother, flew out of her pocket and formed a spread in the air. One by one the cards turned over until only one still had its back to her.

On the other side of the window she could see women, no it was girls, they were flitting back and forth. They looked fairly normal except for a few details. She had never seen anything like this before, but she already knew what was going on. 

Her grandmother had used special tarot cards to fight something. Mami never actually knew what it was that she fought. Her parents had always talked in hushed voices about what her grandmother did and they would always stop when Mami walked into the room. She only knew as much as she did by eavesdropping over the years. Her parents didn’t want Mami to have anything to do with her grandmother’s work. The only reason Mami was allowed to keep the deck was because she lied and told them it was a reproduction of her grandmother’s because she liked the pictures.

On the edge between life and death Mami did not care about her the fear of her parents. She did not think about how sad her grandmother looked when Mami would sit on her knee and say she wanted to grow up to be just like her.

Mami reached for the cards. One of them slid into her hand.

There was only one thought in her mind as she grabbed the Hermit.

_I want to live._

 

When Rikka entered the front door of her house she expected to find a silent house like normal. While it wasn’t noisy, it definitely wasn’t silent.

“Mom, who are these people?” Rikka looked at her mother and the two women sitting together in the living room.

Both women were wearing elegant clothing covered with ribbons and all sorts of tiny details. The clothing was somewhat western looking, but was definitely not normal. One of them had a gentle smile and the other had glasses and a scowl.

“Rikka, these two ladies are from a school called Sefiro Fiore.”

“I’ve never heard of that school.”

“Most people haven’t. I am Etia Visconti and this is my associate Ariel Valtiel Westcott,” Etia indicated to Ariel who nodded at Rikka. “It is a private school with branches all over the world. We have an opening for a new student and were interested in administrating a test to you to see if you would be a good fit.”

“Mom?” Rikka looked at her mother, biting her lip.

“It’s just a test. What is the harm in trying?”

“Alright,” Rikka said. She walked over to an empty chair across from Etia and Ariel. In between them was a table. Rikka sat in the chair, with her hands in her lap.

“Relax,” it was an order not a request, “this isn’t going to be hard,” Ariel said as she shuffled a deck of cards.

One by one Ariel laid out the cards with the backs up in a peculiar formation. It was not any solitaire game that Rikka recognized. Ariel kept placing cards until there were about twenty or so on the table. The placement of the cards was symmetrical, but it didn’t really look like anything in particular.

“Now, just pick a card,” Etia said.

“That’s it?”

“Yes, that’s all.”

Rikka stared down at the cards. This was the strangest and the silliest test she had ever been forced to take. What could picking a random card prove? It was illogical. The only thing it could test was probability or maybe luck. Still, there could be something else to this. There might be some clue in the way the cards were laid out or there might be subtle differences in the design on the back. 

Rikka sat there for thirty minutes, trying to find something to give her a clue. The two foreign women watched her the entire time. Her mother did get up to prepare some refreshments for their guests.

In the end, Rikka could not find anything to tell her what was the right answer. Maybe it was just beyond her or maybe it really was just a game of luck. She reached for a card in the top right and turned it over.

The Hierophant. 

 

Mami flew through the air of the Astralux. Ahead of her appeared the back of an Elemental Tarot card larger than she was. The gates of the design unlocked and opened up. Mami paused in front of it and mentally gave a small plea. She flew through it, emerging on the side with the illustration.

She was different now. Her curls were longer, down to her waist, and so much thicker. A brown hat with a feather was perched on her head. A flower shaped hairpin with a golden jewel would prevent the hat from flying off. Yellow ribbons were wrapped around her arms and legs loosely.

There was the Daemonia. It towered high above Mami, with clean straight lines and cool grey skin. It was vaguely shaped like a skyscraper only with eyes in place of the windows and a mouth in place of the doors.

Mami’s dark purple boots touched the ground with a small noise. She was alone in the Astralux with a creature that should terrify her. She was scared, but experience had taught her to quell that voice inside of her that wanted to run as far away from it as she could. A distraction could let that little voice free, make her scared or overly confident. Her eyes were locked on the Daemonia as she walked toward it.

It opened the front doors wide and a half dozen long tongues, each with a fanged mouth at the end, shot toward her. They opened their jaws and let out a scream of delight at the imminent feast of flesh. Jagged teeth snapped at the spot that Mami should have been in.

Mami had jumped high into the hair. It was unnaturally higher and more controlled than any jump had a right to be. She shot up fast and then at the height she stopped and hung in midair. With her right hand she reached down as she bent her right leg up and tugged off one of the ribbons. She threw the ribbon, which moved like it had its own purpose. It grew larger and longer until it hit the tongues. Like some invisible giant was playing with the ribbon, it wrapped up and tied down the tongues. They struggled but they couldn’t break out of Mami’s ribbons.

She pulled another ribbon off of her left arm. This one wound itself up and turned into a rifled musket. She pulled it in, with the butt up against her shoulder and squeezed the trigger as she exhaled. The bullet ripped through an eye. The eye held its shape for a second before it collapsed into a white liquid and oozed down the side. Tongues came out of the new hole and tried to wrap around Mami. She dodged left.

This continued on and on. Mami would shoot out an eye. Tongues would attack here. She would avoid them and either destroy or incapacitate them. After who knows how many eyes were shot out, she destroyed one and nothing came out. That was the one she was looking for. Mami could just barely see the Tower card inside. This time she took careful aim. Her shot hit the card in the exact center.

Everything faded away around her and she herself changed into her normal appearance. She was back in the Moscow branch of Sefiro Fiore. The room was full of monstrous machines that looked like they belong in the lair of a Hollywood mad scientist. 

Standing at the controls was a set of three girls. They were identical except for the colors of their hair, eyes and clothing. All three smiled and waved at Mami. They were homunculi. Each branch of Sefiro Fiore had a set of them to run the machines that helped transport the girls to the Daemonia’s location. All of them had the Wheel of Fortune arcana.

“Welcome back, Mami,” Masha said in Russian. She wore red.

“The transfer has arrived,” said Sasha. She wore blue.

“A new girl,” said Katya with obvious glee. She wore yellow.

“Then I should go greet her,” Mami said in accented Russian.

 

Rikka opened up the cardboard box. She pulled out the first newspaper wrapped item that she touched. She sat down on her naked bed and unwrapped it. Inside was a picture frame decorated with card suits. The picture was not taken that long before she left Japan. It was from the going away party at Solitaire that everyone had thrown her.

Mana and Rikka were front and center of the picture with Regina clinging to Mana’s arm. Aguri was sitting in a chair, bouncing baby Ai on her knee. Alice and Makoto were laughing at something that only they knew. In the back Sebastian, Marie Ange and Joe were bringing out more snacks for the party.

Rikka smiled down at the photo before she placed it on a small table next to her bed. It would be a long time before she could go home to stay, but she would at least be able to visit. Until then she would use the picture to stay strong.

There was a soft knock at the door. Rikka walked across the floor and opened it. On the other side was a beautiful teenager, about two years older than Rikka. Her clothing was stylish and her hair was held in curls by two flower shaped clips.

“Hello,” Rikka said in Russian.

“Hello, we can talk in Japanese,” Mami said.

Rikka gave a sigh of relief. She had only just started taking Russian lessons a few weeks before leaving home. Right now she only knew the basics of the basics. She was told that she would learn much faster once she was actually in Moscow, but knowing there was someone she could talk to in Japanese made her feel much more secure.

“My name is Hishikawa Rikka.”

“I’m Tomoe Mami. I’ll be working together with you.” Mami held out her hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Rikka took it.

The two shook hands.

 

They sat together in the kitchen. Their text books were spread out across the table. One of Mami’s cake was baking in the oven, filling the room with a smell better than any perfume. The text books were in a mix of Japanese and Russian. Whenever Rikka had a problem understanding something in Russian Mami would help her translate it into Japanese. Mostly they didn’t talk, but it was a silence as warm as fresh bread.

Sometimes Rikka would glance over at Mami and try not to blush. Rikka was used to being depended on by Mana. Having to depend on Mami was something Rikka wasn’t used to. Mami was a dependable senior member of Sefiro Fiore to her.

Heather, holder of the Lovers Arcana, walked into the kitchen. She placed a hand on the table and leaned forward to look at what they were reading.

“The triplets are picking up an unusual Daemonia. They want the three of us to go out and take care of it,” Heather said.

“Alright, I am about ready for a break. How about you Hishikawa?”

“Oh, yes, I’m ready for one too.” Rikka pushed herself back from the table. She stood and stretched her arms. 

Mami went over and turned off the oven. There were things more important than making sure the cake finished properly. 

The three left the kitchen, laughing as Heather told an off colour joke.

 

Rikka stared straight ahead at where Heather had been fighting an inverted copy of herself. Heather had dealt a killing blow. Rikka has seen it clearly. Her ice diamonds had pinned the copy’s feet to the ground and then Heather had run it through with her epee. Now they were both gone.

She wasn’t aware of when she had turned back to normal. When Mami had helped her up from the ground Rikka’s golden bracelets had already disappeared from her wrists and her hair was no longer up in its ponytail. They were back home.

Mami silently led Rikka through the building and to her bedroom. She rubbed Rikka’s back. Her hands and arms felt warm, a solid support for Rikka. Mami helped her into her bed before leaving Rikka alone.

She laid there and just stared at nothing. Rikka rolled over onto her side and locked eyes with the Mana in the photo. Her vision blurred as the tears started to spill out. With one hand she reached out and grabbed a corner of the frame. She hugged it tight to her chest and curled up in her bed. She cried and she cried until she couldn’t cry anymore.

When her tears dried she could still hear sobbing. She got out of bed and moved to the opposite wall, still holding Mana and the others close. The crying was coming from the room next to hers. Rikka left her room and walked over to the one next to hers. The door was slightly open. Rikka pushed it open with her free hand.

 

Mami was sitting on the floor with her back to the wall. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her arms were wrapped around them. The tears ran down her face and dripped onto her tights.

She had been a ward of Sefiro Fiore since the car crash. Her parents had both died. Maybe if she had claimed the Hermit sooner she could have fought the Daemonia that caused the crash or rescue her parents from the vehicle. After she had recovered enough she had been sent straight to Moscow. She tried to be the brave senior to Rikka, but really all Mami wanted to do was cry. Mami sniffled. She was a horrible role model.

The door opened. Mami didn’t hear it. She thought she was alone up until she felt someone sit next to her and wrap an arm around her. Mami looked to her right. Rikka was sitting next to her, with eyes still red from her own crying. Rikka gave a quick squeeze with one arm. 

Mami leant her head against Rikka and didn’t say a word.

 

Mami and Rikka walked together. There was no leader or follower, they walked side by side. They looked forward at their destination but still watched each other out of the corners of their eyes. 

Hand brushed against each other. Fingers blindly and gently intertwined until each found its home between the fingers of the other girl. One squeezed and the other returned it.

They needed to be together. Each depended on the other to watch her back. Right now it was all they could do for each other. Together they would enter the Astralux and fight the Daemonia. They would win. If they met their counterpart then they would run. 

Each girl was willing to die to protect the one she was slowly falling in love with.

**Author's Note:**

> Mami is supposed to be wearing [this](http://imgur.com/0xExqK3) as her clothing.
> 
> When transformed I imagined Mami's hair like [Vivid Yellow's](http://youtu.be/qm3rb1k7k78) from Vividred Operation, only with Mami's Madoka Magica hat and hair pin. The ribbons are supposed to be the ones she uses in combat in the show.
> 
> Rikka's transformed state just has her Precure hairstyle and her golden bracelets.


End file.
